A monthly newsletter from the Rochester Professional Consultants Network.
From the RPCN President:
Good Morning RPCN members!!
It
is a great day to rock and roll! THANK YOU for being a part of RPCN.
Our organization is nothing without our members, and I appreciate every
one of you.
October. How is it October already? We have a lot going on in our
community this October and I hope you are planning to be a part of it.
The big event for RPCN is our 30th Anniversary party at Glendoveers on
October 23. We are having a casino night – please join us; it will be
fun and you aren’t going to want to miss it. We have sponsorship
opportunities for your business too – for many budgets. For information,
contact me at tamara@nowdigitalmarketing.us.
We are continuing with our lunchtime Business Forums and our new members
get treated to an Ambassador meeting with our very own Melanie Watson
who gets to know our new members and points them in a direction where
they would get the most out of their RPCN Membership.
The new initiatives of the membership committee have allowed our
organization to grow! We have gained 9 new members, since July.
Congratulations on a job well done, Melanie and Membership Committee
Members: Ruth Balkin, Marcia Bornhurst-Parkes, Danny Brodowski, Mark
Fling, and Bob Mannard.
You stop growing when you stop learning. Never. Stop. Learning.
What have you learned lately? How are you implementing it? How can RPCN
help you? Share with us on Social Media or connect with me and let me
know.
If you can do a presentation on what you’ve learned and what has helped
you – let Michael Vandergaag know or myself so that we can put you on
our calendar for you to shine your expertise to our members.
I learned that there is nothing more powerful than a tribe of
like-minded individuals who have your back and call you on your
nonsense, keeping you accountable and helping you to reach your goals.
I have that tribe here at RPCN – how about you?
Connect with me online: I’m on Facebook, LinkedIn, Twitter. Send me an
email at tamara@nowdigitalmarketing.us book some time with me on my
calendar for coffee – I’d love to get to know you.
To
kick off their 30th-anniversary celebration, the Rochester Professional
Consultants Network (RPCN) is hosting a Casino Night on Wednesday,
October 23, 2019, from 6-9 p.m. at Glendoveers, 2328 Old Browncroft Rd.
A
fun night of games of chance, networking, prizes, and raffles is
planned. Hearty appetizers will be served and there will be a cash bar.
Since
October is Breast Cancer Awareness Month, RPCN will be donating a
portion of the proceeds from this event to the Breast Cancer Coalition
of Rochester.
Tickets
are $35 for RPCN and SCORE members and $50 for non-members.
Sponsorships are also available. SCORE and Blue Lilac Marketing are two
of the first sponsors. For additional information and registration
click here.
Jump Out of Your Comfort Zone (Challenge yourself to build your business)
Comfort Zone: Your
comfort zone might be a group of friends, a favorite restaurant,
learning something new, reading a good book, your office, etc. Whatever
your personal “zone,” you probably feel unthreatened and at ease when
you’re there. When our comfort zone is a source of rest, renewal, and
creativity, it can refresh and inspire us. But, like too much of a good
thing, too much comfort-zone time can stifle our progress and make us
miss opportunities to achieve our goals,
Star Performers:
Great performers, speakers, comedians, etc., often tell about the fear
and agony they experience before going “on stage” (Some get physically
sick). But when they step out in front of the audience, they perform at
the top levels of their profession. They “jump” out of their comfort
zone, knowing this will propel them into the great performance they can
deliver. Some believe the “stage-fright” sharpens their ability to
perform.
Your Business: When starting or growing a business, some people “busy” themselves with comfort-zone things. They:
Decide on a business name.
Buy business cards & brochures.
Set up their office, phone & computer.
Choose a business entity (DBA, LLC, Corp).
Get a website.
Join social media platforms (LinkedIn, Twitter, Facebook, etc.).
Read business books.
Attend seminars & conferences.
Do market research
You
get the idea. They spend too much time on the “easy” things, and avoid
the actions needed to plan, market, and acquire customers. They need to
“jump” out of their comfort zone like the star performers.
Jumps: What are some of the “Jumps” from your comfort zone that can help launch your business?
Network:
When you’re in a room with strangers and friends, introduce yourself
and engage people you don’t know, ask them about their business and let
them talk. Then, let them know what you do and how you bring value to
customers. Offer to connect them to useful contacts.
Interview &Discover: Meet
with Potential Clients/Customers; ask about their problems and issues
in areas related to the business you’re starting (Ask, don’t sell). Your
goal is to discover useful information to shape your business offerings
and target the people who need them. Surprises are welcome.
Sell: Set up target-customer meetings. Ask about:
The prospective customer's problems/situations.
What they’d like to do about them.
The results they’d like to see.
Explain
how you can help the prospect. Predict the results you can achieve and
the Customer Value your results will provide. Ask when you can start
providing your service or product to the customer.
Negotiate: Close the sale.
Remember: Too much comfort-zone time can adversely affect your business success. So, start jumping.
Have
you ever wondered how RPCN can be so active with multiple meetings,
opportunities, workshops, presentations, forums, and various other
activities (e.g. the upcoming Casino Night)? Well, it doesn’t operate by
some magical process. Behind the scenes are a Board of Directors and
other volunteers, all of whom work hard to make RPCN successful.
Once a month an email is sent out announcing that month’s RPCN Board of Director’s Meeting. It is generally on the 3rd
Friday of the month and immediately follows the Business Forum. This is
not a closed-door, secret meeting – anyone can attend. In fact, the
Board encourages our members to attend. Why should YOU attend??
You will get a better appreciation of RPCN if you actually see the immense amount of work that goes on “behind the scenes.”
You may find one part of our operation where you have an interest in contributing.
You will get to know a great group of people dedicated to improving RPCN.
You will most likely enjoy attending the Board meeting.
Before
you attend, you might wonder what is discussed at our Board meetings.
As a member, you have the ability to read the notes from all previous
Board meetings on the RPCN website. Just log in, hover over “Members Only”, and choose “Board Meeting Notes.” The notes are listed in descending date order for your viewing pleasure.
Working
in the background of any organization is fun, satisfying, and
beneficial. RPCN is always looking for help on its committees and in
other areas. You can easily provide your skills and knowledge to make
our organization even better than it already is. and have a good time in
the process.
Have You Heard an Inspiring Speaker?
Consider RPCN!
Since
2013 RPCN has been on a quest to “Learn from the Best”. We have brought
in speakers who have made their mark in various aspects of business. We
find many presenters through networking and at conferences, workshops,
trade shows, universities, and professional organizations. Through these
resources, we have engaged some very stimulating, insightful and
inspiring speakers. Members have suggested a topic of interest or a
speaker that turned out to be a real inspiration. Presenters have
mentioned that speaking at RPCN is so interactive, they actually
learned from the group.
In the recent few years, we have had some marvelous presenters on a variety of topical areas.
Business – of– Business
Marketing & Sales
Economic Opportunity
Consulting Fundamentals
Computer & Software Skills
We have been inviting members to participate more broadly in the programs.
Have you identified a topic that we seem to have missed in our offerings?
Have
you been to a presentation or a conference where a presenter did such a
good job, that you believe RPCN should hear him or her?
Have you been so inspired by a topic but you thought you could better?
Would you like to cover a topic of your own?
If
you answered yes to any of these questions, as a member, RPCN may be
the place to make your suggestion, recommend a speaker or a topic, or
try out your material to hone your speaking skills.
We’ll even give you feedback as you compose your presentation, slides, and speech.
Friday, October 4, 2019
8:00 - 9:30 a.m.
Pittsford Community Library
How Barter Can Help Your Business Presented by Steven Gerlach
Friday, October 11 2019 Special Time:9:00 - 10:30 a.m. Special Location:Irondequoit Public Library
Business Forum
Friday, October 18, 2019 Special Time:9:00 - 10:30 a.m. Special Location:Irondequoit Public Library
RPCN Board Meeting Everyone is welcome to attend.
Friday, October 18, 2019 Special Time:9:00 - 10:30 a.m. Special Location:Irondequoit Public Library
Casino Night
Tuesday, October 23, 2019
6:00 p.m. - 9:00 p.m.
Glendoveer's
Not an RPCN member? You can join RPCN now to receive great benefits,
including free admission to RPCN presentations, a listing in the RPCN
Member Directory, and discounts to RPCN events. Click here for more information on joining RPCN.
Member News
Bob Manard,
the owner of Faces That Work, will be speaking at Tech-KNOW-Palooza
conference on October 29, 2019, at the DoubleTree, 1111 Jefferson Rd,
Rochester, New York 14623. Bob will conduct two separate workshops,
"Google Tips and Tricks" and "Google G-Suite for Real Estate". Details
can be found here.
Lawrence Berger
will be a speaker in a seminar "How writers get paid" on Sunday,
October 27th, 2019, at 3:00 pm. This event is open to the public and is
donation based. The event will take place at Books ETC, 78 Main Street
in Macedon, NY 14502.
RPCN Members’ Literature Table
Attention,
RPCN members! We’re bringing back the RPCN Members’ Literature Table at
our Friday meetings. Members are encouraged to bring on type of
literature (brochure, rack card, flyer) to share on the table. Multiple
pieces of literature are not allowed so that there is room for everyone
to share their information.
If you are hosting an event, speaking, or involved in an event, use this space to share printed information.
This is a Member Benefit so take advantage of letting other attendees learn more about you and your business!
News from the Enhancing Human Capital team:
Building
effective teams is essential in healthy organizations. Leaders can
either develop the teaming skills of the people in their organization or
select good team players. Either way, we need to understand what skills
are essential for great team players. In August, the EHC team explored
Patrick Lencioni’s work on “The Ideal Team Player”. In this session, we
took a deep dive into finding and developing team members who are
“Humble, Hungry, and Smart.”
A
critical responsibility of all managers and supervisors is to provide
feedback on how employees are performing. When feedback is delivered
effectively to employees, it clarifies performance expectations and
increases motivation to excel, maximizing the results. However despite
good intentions, the message is often not delivered well, resulting in
confusion and a negative impact on morale.
In this session, we'll discuss both positive & negative feedback as well as guidelines for delivering it effectively.
Program Ad Sheets
At every RPCN meeting, and at our events and tradeshow booths, RPCN distributes the Program Ad sheets.
Ads
are inexpensive and support RPCN. The cost for members to advertise is
$20 for 2 months. For non-members, the cost is $40 for 2 months. The
deadline to get your ad included in the November/December 2019 calendar
ad sheet is October 18, 2019. Sign up for your ad here.
A note from our copyeditor:
Good day, RPCN members:
As
you know, I “pre-edit” the RPCN before sending it on to Melanie, who
puts the newsletter together. This note is just to help us keep things
in order because the system sometimes becomes rather more complicated
than it sounds here.
In
order to help me to retain my sanity, and to avoid my stretching
Melanie’s to its limits as well, would you please, if possible:
1. Get your copy of the newsletter to us as close to the 21st of the
month as is possible. (It is much more efficient if I can edit them all
over a short period.)
2. Put your name and “RPCN newsletter” in the subject line.
3. Make sure that the piece you have just finished writing IS the piece that you actually send us.
The RPCN newsletter welcomes news, success stories, tips, resources,
events and other items that would be of broad interest to consultants.
Submit a newsletter item to newsletter@rochesterconsultants.org for
inclusion.
You Can See RPCN’s Board Meeting Notes
